Which white coloured Campion?

[chrishorak]

Thanks to Pete and leifus on letting me know that my White Campion identification might not be as straightforward as I first thought. Can you tell from this picture?

[leifus]

yes, you were right, white campion, Silene latifolia

[Pete Collins]

Yes, White Campion.

[chrishorak]

Thanks. I will look out for the other white coloured ones.

[leifus]

thats ok - here are my pictures of the other two:

Bladder campion (now finished flowering i think)



Sea campion (only found by the sea - especially on the cliffs)



White campion



You can probably see that once you get used to it they are quite easy to distinguish from one another glad to be of help

[AlanS]

I agree that both photographs of White Campion in this thread appear to be the genuine plant, but before I realised this thread existed I posted the following in the 'Two pink/purple flowers to ID thread' in response to the posts on white-flowered campions there.


A white-flowered campion can also be a Red Campion!

Unless the plant is female and going into fruit (at which point the capsule teeth of Red Campion curve back), I know of no reliable character to separate white-flowered Red Campion from White Campion. I have even been through a lot of the material in the Edinburgh herbarium and established that supposed vegetative differences in some books do not work.

There is a tip in 'Stace' that white-flowered Red Campions usually lack the red anthocyanin pigment in the stem, and that seems a useful field guide, but that does not help with the pale pink-flowered plants that are often hybrids but are often not.

As a vice-county recorder (Wigtownshire, SW Scotland) it is one of my perennial problems (no pun intended) that I get records of White Campion from visitors, but not one has been authenticated.

White Campion is common in most of England of course, and locally so in East Scotland. It likes the warmer and dryer parts of the country, while white-flowered Red Campion seems to like lusher vegetation , often near the coast.

And yes, there is supposedly a pink-flowered White Campion, that was called var. colorata in past times. I did see, many years ago, a Breckland population of apparent White Campion with pale, salmon-pink flowers that seemed to fit.


Alan

Oh, and for pink-flowered Bladder Campions (though admittedly a different subspecies) - Plymouth and the Isle of Wight.

Also note that Sea Campion does occur inland in some areas, especially on river shingles, and it hybridises very easily with Bladder Campion. White campions often are NOT easy!

[leifus]

interesting i'll bear that in mind

[chrishorak]

Thanks - I had no idea it would be so complicated!

[jhewitt15]

Originally Posted by leifus

yes, you were right, white campion, Silene latifolia

I thought white campion was silene alba?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by jhewitt15

I thought white campion was silene alba?

It used to be; but has been S. latifolia for some time!